Tollway Pays To Repair Repairs

November 25, 1987|By Neil H. Mehler.

It cost more than $300,000 to redo four miles of the East-West Tollway after a contractor had finished widening and improving it this fall, according to Illinois State Toll Highway Authority officials.

The tollway was widened to three lanes in each direction between Ill. Hwy. 53 and Ill. Hwy. 59 by Leininger Mid-States Paving Co. of Hillside. The original cost of the project was $11.5 million.

But after the work was finished, there were so many complaints that Leininger was told ``to remove one inch of surface . . . and replace it,``

Tollway Executive Director Thomas H. Morsch Jr. said in September.

This delayed the removal of barricades and the full opening of the new sections for several weeks. There had already been other delays, which Morsch said were caused by a brief strike, heavy rains and other factors.

Leininger gave the tollway agency a price break on the repaving, Tollway Chief Engineer Marc A. Hillier said, charging $300,000 at cost without a markup for profit.

``The rideability was not what we offer elsewhere`` on the tollway system, Hillier said of the original paving job.